Prisoners of War
by DeMash077
Summary: Medieval AU follows Blake and Velvet as they are taken captive by an opposing army
1. Under Siege

"Ready the defenses and prepare for battle!" The Constable cried out from the outer wall of Fort Luna. As the words reached the ears of the of the fort's inhabitants they scrambled to action. It wasn't long before the archers were in position at the top of the wall with several knights sprinkled in amongst them.

Velvet, one of the archers, gulped as she looked over the wall and saw the approaching sea of red soldiers. She readied her bow, but her hands shook with fear. This didn't last long as an armoured hand rested on her shoulder with the owner, Dame Blake, telling her, "Don't worry this castle hasn't fallen for generations. It will not fall today." That was enough to calm Velvet down as she waited for the command to fire.

While the Constable waited for the enemy's army to get in range an unnerving silence fell upon the castle. "Archers' ready your bows!" He announced breaking this silence as the front most troops just started to get within range. He waited a couple of beats before finally calling out the word they had been waiting for, "Fire!"

Suddenly the sound of a hundred arrows whistling in the wind filled the air. The volley soared over four hundred feet taking out a many of the enemy's soldiers. They were able to fire several more volleys before the attacking army gave their response. They didn't fire arrows though, instead they one upped Lord Luna's forces and fired off their trebuchets, hurling large boulders at the castle wall.

Velvet had nocked another arrow getting ready to fire again, but before she could the wall exploded as a large boulder crashed into it. She was just far enough that she didn't receive anything more than a couple bruises from flying rocks, but she was close enough that it knocked her over. Some of her allies weren't as lucky, many of them were either knocked off the wall causing them to fall to their deaths or were crushed by the boulder directly.

Blake yanked Velvet to her feet, "Get up! We still have a castle to defend!"

Velvet couldn't hear her though, she was stuck staring at what was left of the archers beside her.

"Velvet! Snap out of it!" Blake told her, "I know they were friends but if you don't ready your bow we'll lose even more!" But it wasn't enough for Velvet to ready her bow again.

The opposing army was quickly closing the gap, soon they'd be close enough to start climbing the wall. Whatever soldiers that weren't posted up on the castle walls were positioned just inside the gate armed and ready to slice, stab, or skewer anyone that managed to get through the gates.

"Velvet!" She tried again this time finally getting Velvet's attention. Velvet shook her head and drew her bow once again.

She quickly fired several arrows taking down a couple soldiers before she heard the sound of a ladder smacking against the castle wall. The enemy's soldiers didn't waste any time in climbing the ladders. Blake swung her longsword slicing right through one of the soldiers shield and implanting it into the side of their chest. She firmly planted her foot on the centre of their chest and kicked them off the wall quickly freeing her blade. While this happened another soldier was about to take advantage of the opening Blake had just created, but before the blade met her side and arrow met his skull. She spun around and ran across the wall trying to get to the ladder before more soldiers could climb it. As a soldier reached the top of the ladder she swiftly kicked him back using his weight to make the ladder crash towards the ground.

More soldiers came down the wall towards Blake but, the width of the wall restricted them to come at her at most two at a time. This made them easy to deal with, Blake taking one and Velvet shooting the other. Despite this, with each set of soldiers Blake was slowly pushed back. Eventually they got close enough that even Velvet had to back up in order to shoot them. She had forgotten about the part of the wall that had been destroyed by the trebuchet, and because of that she took one step too far and started to fall.

Despite being in the middle of battle Blake spun around and leaped forward to grab Velvet's hand before she could fully fall. If it wasn't for the fact that Velvet couldn't afford chainmail she definitely would've been too heavy to have been caught, for once she was fortunate to be poor. While Blake slowly pulled Velvet up the soldiers surrounded her, but after seeing what she had done to their fellow soldiers they didn't get too close.

At this point the castle was mostly overrun by enemy soldiers, the battle had clearly been won, but out of chivalry the commander of the opposing force stepped into the castle. "Hold your blades!" they commanded, "Lord Luna! Come down here and your forces may be spared!"

The enemy soldiers stood still, but their weapons were still drawn and they were ready to continue where they left off if Lord Luna didn't make an appearance.

Lord Luna stepped out from the castle wielding a large longsword, "Men lay down your weapons!" He commanded hoping to spare some lives.

"Lord Luna, draw your blade, I challenge you to a duel. If I win you surrender your fort, but most of your men will be spared."

"Baroness why should I believe your word?"

"Whether you do or not is up to you, but if you don't your men will pay." She replied.

Lord Luna drew his longsword, "Fine I accept your challenge."

In response Baroness Cinder drew a similar blade, "Those will be your last words."

As her blade was drawn Luna slashed forward hoping to take her off guard, but Cinder wasn't stupid. She parried his blade and slammed the hilt of her sword into the front of his helmet causing Luna to stumble back. Luna put his blade up in defense preparing for a follow up from Cinder, but it never came. As soon as he had his footing again he lunged forward and brought out a flurry of strikes. The problem was Luna was outclassed by her and it was clearly shown when she blocked each strike with ease. Once he grew tired Cinder stabbed forward piercing Luna's chest plate and burying her blade deep within his chest.

"Your will was as weak as your armour." She told him as she pulled the sword from his chest like pulling a wooden sign from the ground.

"Men, round up his soldiers."

While everyone was watching the fight Blake was able to pull Velvet back up, and knowing how the battle was going she cut off a piece of the cloth on her chainmail that contained her crest. She gave the piece to Velvet whispering, "Keep a hold of this and make sure they see it."

Cinder's soldiers grabbed a hold of the two of them and brought them down next to the gate where the rest of Luna's forces waited unarmed and on their knees. Velvet and Blake were pushed down onto their knees and Cinder looked over all of the soldiers before her.

"You idiots killed most of their knights!" She exclaimed noticing that there was only a single knight left.

Her second in command, Sir Mercury, stepped forward, "Sorry ma'am but if we didn't we would've lost a lot more soldiers. They were fairly well trained."

"Fine, you better hope that this one will fetch a good ransom." Cinder told him as she walked up to Dame Blake.

"Wait, this one has a crest!" One of the soldiers stated noticing the piece of cloth Velvet held.

Cinder walked up to her and ripped it from Velvet's hands. She looked it over and recognized it, "Hm, this one could fetch a fairly good ransom, but why was she holding it instead of wearing it?" She wondered aloud.

Her second in command kicked Velvet in the side, "Explain."

"Your soldiers sliced up my armour and I wasn't going to let it touch the ground." Velvet told them.

"Likely story… Take these two and Dame Coco, Dame Weiss, kill the rest." She ordered. They both stepped forward and took care of the rest of the soldiers, they were careful to kill them as quickly as they could hoping to at least spare them some pain.

Cinder led her army out of the castle taking Dame Blake and Velvet with them. The two of them walked hanging their heads in shame of the defeat while the soldiers jeered and them.


	2. Victors and Victims

Lady Cinder's army had set up camp miles away from Fort Luna so that the lookouts wouldn't be able to spot it. It was quite the distance to travel, but it allowed them to rest before they attacked. The encampment was large and made up of a field of black and red striped tents, the colours of Lady Cinder's crest. Each tent housed several soldiers, five or six civilians, or a single knight.

Velvet and Dame Blake were taken to a tent near the centre of the camp where they were stripped of their armour, had their arms chained behind their backs, and then were chained together. Once they were restrained two guards were posted outside of the tent.

Outside Sir Mercury walked with the baroness, "Lady Cinder, why did we take those knights captive? Their castle was destroyed, who can we ransom them to?"

"You didn't see their crest then. It wasn't the Luna crest, it was a royal one. They happen to be some of the king's knights." She informed him with a wicked smile on her face, "We can ask for a ransom well above what these two are worth."

"Would you like me to send a messenger?"

"Yes, send two, one to King Ozpin asking for… forty pounds, and the other to Queen Salem asking for orders."

"Yes ma'am." Sir Mercury replied before running off to complete this task.

Lady Cinder walked into Velvet and Dame Blake's tent, "So, what were two of the kings knights doing posted at Fort Luna?" she asked them, but her question was met with absolute silence.

"Fine, don't tell me, but know my men are dying for a chance to avenge some of their fallen allies. How many did you two take out? Twenty, thirty men? If you two aren't cooperative maybe I might lessen your guard."

This threat got to Velvet, but Blake still seemed calm and collected which was enough to keep them both quiet. "Fine, have it your way." Lady Cinder replied venomously while she walked out and dismissed one of their guards.

"Don't worry Velvet, she can't afford for us to be killed, we're worth too much to them." Blake whispered to Velvet.

"Blake, you are worth money to them, what happens when they find out I'm not a knight?" Velvet replied referring to Blake informally like she used to. This tripped several alarms in her head, Velvet kept it formal in the middle of the most stressful and dangerous situations, but now Velvet was so scared that she had forgotten.

"Velvet, don't worry we're far away from the castle it'll take a long time for even a bird to make the trip there and back, and you heard them as well as I did, they sent a messenger. We'll have enough time to figure out how to escape before they come back." Blake assured her.

Velvet took a deep breath, "Thank you ma'am." She replied having calmed down a bit.

Dame Blake looked around the tent trying to find something to help them break free of their restraints. Unfortunately the tent was bare, there wasn't even a rock in the grass. _"Damnit"_ she thought making sure not to show Velvet that she couldn't think of anything. She went deep into thought trying to find a solution, even attempting to think of a way she could use the grass.

Before she could think of anything she was ripped from her thoughts by a soldier stepping into the tent saying, "Not so tough now are you."

Blake held her tongue doing her best not to antagonize the soldier, but in the end it wouldn't have made a difference. He stepped forward and swiftly kicked Velvet in the side. "Hey! Stay away from her!" Blake announced squirming to try to help Velvet.

"Orders are to keep you two alive, not unharmed." He told them with venom in his voice.

Velvet did her best to move away from him while keeping her legs pulled up against her chest defensively. Despite her best efforts she couldn't get far enough away to avoid the soldier's beating.

"Take off these damn shackles and fight me like a man!" Blake cried out.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Fight a knight one on one?"

"Where is your chivalry!?"

"It died along with my allies in that fort!" He exclaimed kicking Blake this time.

The soldier wound up for another kick but before he let it go he was stopped, "Enough!" a voice called out from behind him.

"You are bringing shame upon this entire battalion! These two are unarmed captives, no respectable soldier should bring them harm!" They told him.

"It won't happen again Dame Coco." The soldier replied before promptly leaving.

Despite Coco being their saviour Blake glared at her, "Who are you to talk about being a respectable soldier? You slaughtered our soldiers after they had surrendered!"

Coco sighed ashamed of her past actions, "I know what I did, but those… those were our orders. If I didn't do it someone else would've and they wouldn't have done it so quickly."

"Yeah that makes everything better, you and your battalion slaughtered almost everyone in that castle! Some of them were my friends and the rest were trusted allies!" Blake exclaimed seeing Dame Coco as a monster.

"You aren't completely innocent yourself, you two killed thirty men. I trained with those men and women! They were close to me!"

"You attacked us!"

"You're a knight! You know that if I don't follow orders me and maybe even my men will be executed!"

"That doesn't mean you ca-" Blake started before she was cut off.

"Stop it!" Velvet exclaimed sick of their fighting, "This is a war. We are trained and made to kill other faunus and humans, and in order to make it okay we are made to believe the enemy is less than human, but they are people too. In the end all we do is protect our friends by killings other people's."

This sudden explanation killed the hostility between Dame Blake and Dame Coco. With a sigh Blake said, "Thank you for helping us."

"After what we did at the fort it's the least I can do." She replied. "I'll have a talk with Lady Cinder and see if I can have some more guards posted so that this doesn't happen again."

"She was the one who decreased the guard, I doubt she'll increase it again." Blake informed her.

"I'll still see what I can do. I have at least some sway in this battalion." Coco told them before leaving.

Now that Velvet and Dame Blake were alone again Blake spoke up, "How long has that been sitting on your mind?"

"A while… I think since my first battle…" Velvet replied solemnly.

"Then why are you still in the army? You finished your required service a while ago."

"I can't just leave. I have friends and allies I need to protect!" She paused for a second, "Well… I had them…" Velvet replied. Now that things had died down at least a bit things really started to sink in.

"Velvet, we both lost a lot of friends, but we can't focus on that or we may end up seeing them again sooner than we should."

"I know… I… I won't be able to forget them though..." She said hanging her head.

"I'm not asking you to. I just need you to not dwell on it, well not yet. When we get back we can properly grieve."

"Okay…"

While they talked Dame Coco made her way to Lady Cinder's tent thinking about what Velvet said. She started to remember the people she had slew in her last couple of battles, but before she got too deep in thought she had reached her destination. Cinder possessed the second largest tent the only larger one was for constructing battle strategies. Inside her tent there was a simple bed and her own personal rack of weapons and armour.

"Lady Cinder, permission to enter?" Dame Coco asked.

"Permission granted."

Coco took a step inside, "It's about the two prisoners, I had to stop one of our men from beating them."

"Why did you do that?" Lady Cinder replied in a calm tone.

"Well ma'am beating bound defenseless soldiers is beneath this battalion."

"That may be true, but don't you want to see those two pay for what they did to our men?"

Dame Coco sighed not answering.

"Coco. Answer."

"Ma'am I don't. We killed the lord of their castle and the rest of their soldiers. We've already made them pay." She said honestly.

"Have you grown soft on me? I have no need for Knights with no backbone."

"I'm not growing soft. I'm trying to show the honour that I know our kingdom possesses."

"Well if you want to be chivalrous you'll have to guard them in your own tent. I'm not posting any other soldiers to assist you." Lady Cinder told her knowing full well a single person isn't enough to guard.

"Thank you ma'am."

"Oh and Coco, if they escape the blame will be put directly on your shoulders." Cinder warned her while she sent Dame Coco on her way.


	3. A Change of Scenery

Velvet and Dame Blake were anxious about Coco's return. If she came back with more guards there would be less beatings, but at the same time it would be harder to escape. If she didn't come back with any guards it meant there probably would be an increase in beatings. Both situations seemed equally unfavourable, but before they could think too deeply about what Coco's return could bring, a soldier walked into their tent. She quietly walked up to them, firmly grasped Velvet by her ears, and yanked on them to give her incentive to stand. The only problem was it didn't matter how much Velvet wanted to stand, she couldn't as the restraints kept both her and Blake from doing so. The soldier quickly realized this, but she yanked on her ears just a little longer before finally letting go and leaving.

"Velvet are you okay?" Blake asked her right after the soldier had left.

"Yeah, I'm just a little sore." She replied.

The soldier came back a little while later along with another soldier. They walked up to the prisoners and pulled them to their feet. Afterwards the first soldier dismissed the other one and gabbed Velvet's ears once again.

"I'm under orders to move you." She informed them half heartedly while she led them out of the tent.

Their trip was short as it took only a minute or two to walk to another tent, which appeared to belong to a knight. Soon after their arrival the soldier that brought them there shoved them into the tent and walked away.

Blake and Velvet were stuck laying on the ground for the time being, but Blake didn't spend much time trying to get up as she had more important things on her mind. She did her best to look around the room for anything that could possibly help with their shackles, and she happily found a mallet laying on top of a chest at the foot of the tent owner's bed.

"Velvet, we need to roll to the bed." She told her quickly.

"Would you two just stay put? It'll make things a lot easier on me." Coco said announcing her presence to them.

"How would it make things easier for you?" Velvet asked curiously.

"Well, I talked to Lady Cinder and I am now in charge of guarding you two. Unfortunately it also means my ass is on the line if you two escape. I can promise you two that no harm will come to you and I'll do my best to keep you both comfortable if you guys don't try to escape." She told them.

They both paused debating this proposal, normally they'd take it as it'll make things a lot more tolerable, but this is a little more complicated. If they escape they don't know what Lady Cinder would do to Coco, but if they stay Velvet is almost guaranteed to be executed. Blake immediately knew that she would escape to save her friend as opposed to helping an enemy soldier, but she also knew that this was more Velvet's decision than her own.

"We won't try to escape anymore." Velvet said finally making her decision.

"Thank you, when I get back I'll get those shackles off." Coco replied with a smile not knowing how big a decision Velvet had just made. With that she left the tent to go hunt down one of her friends in the camp.

"Velvet are you sure about this?" Blake asked her worried.

"Blake, if we left I don't know if we'd even make it out of the camp… If we stay at least it guarantees you'll make it." Velvet replied.

Meanwhile Coco had made it to one of the civilian tents where a group of four people were playing poker. It was clearly a one sided game as three of the four players were practically out of chips while the fourth had nearly all of them.

"Fox, put down the cards I need you to come with me." Coco ordered.

"I'll be there in a sec I need to finish clearing these guys out!" He called back.

"Hey Fox are you sure you should be disobeying a knight like that?" One of the other civilians asked worriedly.

"Ugh fine, I'll take my chips and go." Fox replied taking his chips and placing them in a bag before heading out with Coco.

"Are you sure a blind man can help you with whatever it is you need?" Fox asked with a laugh.

"Don't pull the helpless blind act on me. You and I both know you're sharper than any soldier in this army."

"Fine you caught me, so what did you need me to do?"

"Well I am now under orders to watch over a couple prisoners, and it's on my head if they escape. Unfortunately I can't watch them on my own, a lady needs to sleep after all." Coco explained.

"So you figured a blind man wouldn't mind taking the night shift."

"Well yeah… I can take the night shift if you'd like, I just need someone to help keep watch."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take the night shift."

"Thank you Fox, I'll owe you one after this."

"No problem, it'll be nice having a knight owe me a favour."

With that Coco led Fox back to her tent. She was surprised to find that Velvet and Blake had kept true to their word so far, not that she didn't believe them it's just that that prisoners will say anything to escape.

"So these two are the ones we'll be taking care of, Blake and Velvet." Coco explained.

"Why are you on a first name basis with them?" Fox asked confused.

"Well, I've had time to talk to these two, they're good people." Coco replied while she walked over to her bed to grab a mallet. As she walked over to Blake to take off her shackles Fox spoke up again, "Whoa, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking off their shackles, they've got to be uncomfortable."

"What's stopping them from just bolting out of here as soon as they're off?"

"Nothing but their word." Coco replied while she started whacking on the bolt that held the shackles together.

"They're prisoners, you can't just take them at their word!" He objected.

"Fox, just trust me on this." Coco simply replied as she took off the shackles on Blake's legs and moved on to the ones on her wrists.

Fox stayed quiet, he was sure someone in this tent was being a fool, it was either Coco for believing the prisoners' lies or the prisoners for straight up giving up on escape. Either way he was going to stick around until he found out who was the fool, and though he doubted it, he hoped it was the prisoners.

"And there, your shackles are off." Coco informed them while she placed them where the mallet was, "Although whenever we leave the tent we'll need to put those shackles back on for appearances."

"I'm okay with that." Velvet replied feeling her wrists with her hands.

"Anyways Fox you should go get some rest before your shift tonight." Coco told him with a smile.

"Fine, but you be careful." He told her before heading back to his tent.

Velvet stood up and stretched a bit as she was stiff from being restrained for so long. She hoped the next couple of weeks would be at least comfortable, after all they would be her last.


	4. Much Schneeded Help

**Authors note: I'm really sorry for not updating this regularly. I've got a bunch of ideas for upcoming chapters, but getting to them has brought me nothing but writer's block. On top of that, I haven't gotten much in terms of feedback which makes it more difficult to set aside the time to write this. I'd really appreciate some more comments on the series so that I know what I can do to make it better! Also I want to say thank you to those of you who've been reading the series! There's not too many of you but I'm happy to see some people enjoying my work.**

Most of the day was silent in Coco's tent thanks to the fact that Blake didn't want to speak to the enemy and Coco didn't want them to think she was interrogating them. This stalemate of conversation lasted until a growl erupted from Velvet's stomach alerting them to her hunger.

"You know you could've just told me you were hungry," Coco told her with a bit of a laugh.

"I didn't want to break the silence…" Velvet admitted.

With that Blake finally spoke up, "I'm actually glad you did." She told them revealing that the silence was getting to her as much as everyone else.

"Anyways, why don't I take you two to the mess hall," Coco suggested.

Blake and Velvet both were okay with that idea so they voluntarily put on their shackles and followed Coco outside. The mess hall was a large tent in the middle of the camp not incredibly far from Coco's tent, but even though the walk wasn't very long it wasn't exactly safe either. As they walked through the camp soldiers gave Blake and Velvet dirty looks and others were on the verge of attacking them, the only thing that stopped them was the fact Coco was guarding them.

Eventually, they reached the tent, but once they arrived there were two soldiers blocking the entrance. "We're not letting you waste our rations on the enemy." The one on the right said.

"Emerald, Mercury step out of the way, I'm under orders to take care of the prisoners."

"Last time I checked the Baroness ordered you to protect them, she never said anything about feeding them," Emerald said not budging an inch.

Sighed and rolled her eyes before she pushed through the two of them, however when Velvet tried to pass Mercury knocked her to the ground.

"Someone's clumsy." He joked

Blake was getting close to attacking him, but he was armed and she was anything but, so her common sense kept her from doing so. Thankfully someone else stepped in to help before things got worse.

"Are you two so weak that you need to pick on two unarmed prisoners to make yourselves feel superior?" Dame Weiss asked as she walked towards the tent.

"Do you want to see how strong I am?" Mercury threatened as he brought out his sword.

"Put that thing away and let these prisoners in before I feed you to them." She threatened.

Mercury wasn't normally someone who'd step down from a fight, but Weiss was known as one of the best sword users in their battalion, so he let out a sigh and withdrew.

"Thank you for that, I'm already on Lady Cinder's bad side, I couldn't attack her lap dogs as well," Coco said happy that the situation ended without bloodshed.

"Trust me, I was happy to deal with those two. I just wish Mercury didn't withdraw, I would have loved to put him in his place with a few choice slices." Weiss replied clearly having daydreamt of doing so multiple times.

"Ugh… tell me about it. Those two just go around here doing whatever they please because Cinder gives them special treatment."

With that Weiss and Coco just chatted about how awful they thought Emerald and Mercury was until they were interrupted by Velvet quietly tapping Coco's shoulder to remind her that they still hadn't eaten. However, Weiss saw this and brought her blade to Velvet's throat.

"Back prisoner!" She exclaimed causing Velvet to fall back in fear that she would be skewered right there.

"Jesus! Calm down Weiss!" Coco said quickly said getting between her and Velvet.

"What? The prisoner was going for your throat!" Weiss replied.

"No. Velvet was just trying to get my attention."

"Velvet? Why are you so close with these prisoners?"

"I'll tell you later, just meet me in my tent."

"Fine. Just be careful with those prisoners." Weiss warned her before leaving.

Coco went up to Velvet afterwards and made sure she was okay. Velvet was very shaken from the encounter, but she was otherwise okay. Thankfully Weiss was good enough with her sword to bring it just close enough to Velvet's neck to touch her skin without cutting it. Unfortunatel, they were in public so Coco, after Velvet said she was okay, had to yank her back to her feet. Afterwards Coco finally walked them into the mess hall. Overall the meal wasn't the best, but Blake and Coco definitely appreciated it.

It was a very uneventful walk back to Coco's tent, and once they got there Weiss was waiting for them.

"Explain now." She said sternly to Coco once she arrived.

"Well these are the two prisoners from Fort Luna." Coco started.

"I know that, get to the part where you got onto a first name basis with them."

"Well, I'm under orders to be their guard, and if they escape all the blame is placed directly on my shoulders."

"What? That's completely unfair, you'd need at least four people to keep an eye on two prisoners."

"Exactly, so I made a deal with them, if they behave I'll make sure to give them kind treatment."

"When you say kind treatment how kind are we talking?" Weiss asked accusatorily.

"I uncuff them while they're in my tent." Coco said sheepishly.

"You uncuff them!? What are you thinking!?"

"Weiss, I trust them."

"You trust them!? They're prisoners! They'll do anything to escape!"

"You don't understand Weiss."

"No! You don't! They've lied to you and tricked you! Which is why I'll have to stay so that you'll have someone to help you when they try to escape."

Coco sighed knowing full well that this conversation wasn't over, but she was happy that Weiss was going to be there to help her, "I appreciate the help, but make sure you at least give them a chance."

"If I see them try anything that resembles escaping I will not hesitate, but if they stay in line I'll trust your judgment." Weiss assured her.

While this conversation had gone on Blake and Velvet made their way into Coco's tent and waited patiently for Coco and Weiss to finish. Once they did finish Coco walked over to them and undid their restraints.

"Thank you." Velvet told her.

"No problem." Coco replied with a warm smile on her face.

Weiss stood behind Coco with her weapon drawn ready to strike if they tried something when their shackles came off. She made a point to stand near the entrance of the tent and never to put her weapon away. The rest of the day was tense to say the least, Blake and Velvet made sure to be careful with every move they made while Weiss watched them like a hawk. When nighttime rolled around Coco hit the hay, and Weiss stood guard letting Fox get a little bit more sleep before he took her position. Blake and Velvet didn't want to fall asleep with Weiss standing menacingly in the corner so they just sat there still trying not to do anything suspicious. After about an hour of this someone came to the front of the tent.

"Thank god, I was getting tired." Weiss told them believing it was Fox. While she was distracted Blake ran at her and tackled her to the ground. She quickly pushed her off of her and was about to slash her throat when she realized what had just happened. There was a shadow looming over the side of the tent and an blade cutting through the fabric right were Weiss used to be. She stood up and got ready to battle whoever owned that blade, but before she could do anything about it they had run off.

Once she realized she wouldn't be able to find the culprit she went back into the tent. "I still don't trust you." She told Blake simply. After spending this long in Lady Cinder's army she was slow to trust, and suspicious of everything.

"Most people would say thanks." Blake replied at the risk of getting slashed for insolence.

"Thank you." Weiss told her with her jaw clenched. Although she didn't want to say it she knew it was more than deserved, after all Blake had saved her life.

The next hour or two was a bit more relaxed, Weiss still wasn't about to trust them, but she did at the very least put her weapon away much to Blake and Velvet's relief. Afterwards Fox came in and told Weiss she could rest. He wasn't surprised to see another person helping guard the prisoners especially since Coco had a lot of friends in the camp.


	5. A Stroll Through the Forest

**Author's note: I sincerely apologize for taking so long writing this chapter. Honestly, I kinda uploaded the last chapter a little early and didn't have something planned for the whole mysterious attacker bit... In the end, I was able to run with the idea and the next chapter should be much faster. Anyways, I'd love to see more comments on this story, it's got a couple thousand views and only one review.**

Weiss had spent the night in Coco's tent, a little bit shaken from the attack. Honestly, she was afraid of whoever her attacker was, but with Fox watching the prisoners he'd know if they came back. With that knowledge, she slept very soundly, so when morning swung around she was ready to head out and try to figure out who did it. However, she wasn't the one who saw the attack coming, Blake was.

"Hey, pris- I mean Blake." She said reluctantly.

Blake was still pretty tired, so hearing Weiss struggle to call her by her name wasn't something she was happy to hear. "What do you want."

Weiss sighed, "I need your help…"

"Oh, so the knight needs help from the prisoner?"

"Yes. That attack last night you saw it coming, do you think you can identify the attacker?"

"I saw their shadow on the side of the tent, so I might be able to."

"But are you going to help me?"

"I will under a couple conditions, first you apologize to Velvet for what happened yesterday, and second you keep your weapon in its scabbard when you're on guard." She requested.

"What!? I can't just do that! I'm not about to guard two prisoners without my weapon drawn!" Weiss exclaimed outraged.

Blake knew that she held the cards, so she didn't budge, "Then I won't help you."

Weiss paused thinking over her options, she might be able to find her attacker without Blake, but it would take longer and that time would give them more opportunities to finish the job they attempted last night. On the other hand, if she kept her distance when guarding the prisoners she could draw before they could close the distance. In the end, the answer seemed simple, "Fine, I'll accept your conditions, but only after we've caught my attacker." She reasoned.

Happy with those final details Blake nodded, grabbed her shackles, and handed them to Weiss. After a couple seconds Weiss had reapplied the shackles to Blake's wrists and they left the tent receiving a nod from Fox telling them he knew they were heading out.

"Okay, so can you tell me if the attacker was male or female?" Weiss asked hoping to cut down the suspect list.

"I couldn't really tell, but I'm pretty sure they were smaller than you," Blake responded thinking back to the night prior.

"Well, that cuts the list down quite a bit. In fact, there's only one soldier here that's smaller than me." Weiss informed her, but despite the fact, they were sure they knew who the attacker was Weiss looked more concerned than she did before.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked.

"Neo, the soldier I'm talking about, well… she is dangerous." Her voice started to shake just a little bit as she spoke.

"Is she really that scary?"

"She's strong enough that the soldiers here believe she might be able to take on Lady Cinder."

Blake remembered the battle at Fort Luna, specifically the duel that took place, Lord Luna was beaten so easily by her. Of course. he wasn't known for his prowess in battle, but that didn't mean he was a pushover, in fact, he could take on any soldier in his fort in a fair duel.

Weiss was incredibly nervous as she walked towards Neo's tent, her hand never left the hilt of her sword. She was even debating taking off Blake's shackles so she could help her.

Neo's tent was just outside of the main encampment, partially because she really enjoyed her privacy, partially because the other soldiers, including Weiss, were at least a little afraid of her, and partially because Neo would be the first line of defense against an attack.

Before they reached her tent, in the section of forest between the main encampment and her tent, a loud sound came from the brush, followed by some angry whispers, "Goddamn it Ruby!"

Weiss and Blake spun to face the noise, just in time to see a woman dressed in yellow descending upon them wielding a zweihänder. They quickly jumped back landing on either side of her, but before Weiss could make a counterattack another attacker leapt from the bushes, in her hands was a farmers scythe. Although the attacker was quick she wasn't too skilled with her weapon, and the weapon itself was more designed to harvest wheat than battling a skilled knight, so she narrowly missed, sinking the blade deep into a tree behind Weiss. Now that her attacker was stuck Weiss delivered a strong side kick into their torso, and grabbed her by the wrist before she hit the ground, pulled her close, and brought her blade to her throat, "Yield!" She cried at the yellow-haired one. Normally Weiss would've cut down her attacker, but the girl looked so young, and it was clear to Weiss that she wasn't a soldier.

"Let Ruby go!" The yellow-haired woman exclaimed.

"Yield!" Weiss repeated.

"Yang! Just take the prisoner and run!"

Yang gritted her teeth, turned around, and ran towards Blake wanting to get her out at all costs, but when she tried to grab her, she smacked her in the back of the head knocking Yang into the dirt.

"What the hell!" Yang yelled from the dirt pathway, "Don't you want to be rescued?"

"It's more complicated than that," Blake told her.

"Enough! Tell me who you two are and how you found this camp!" Weiss ordered while she made sure Ruby couldn't wriggle free.

"We're from one of the villages your army pillaged in its conquest." Yang spat at her, "We intercepted a messenger that told us exactly where your camp was."

"How many more of you are there?"

"We have… a score of allies! Just… Just on the other side of that hill!" Yang told her clearly making it up.

"Tell me the truth," Weiss told her sternly while she pressed her blade a little further into Ruby's throat.

"It's just the two of us!" She said immediately.

Weiss threw Ruby onto Yang and quickly got between them and their weapons, "Leave."

They sat there stunned, they had seen firsthand the ruthlessness of Cinders battalion, they couldn't believe that a soldier would show any mercy.

"I won't say it again, leave your weapons and leave."

As soon as they were out of sight Weiss turned her blade to Blake, "Don't even think about trying to take their weaponry."

At this point, Blake was really getting tired of Weiss's constant suspicion. She sighed and said, "If I were going to attack you I would have done so when you were ambushed. Not to mention I saved your life last night, and you still have my friend back in the tent."

Weiss gripped her blade tight not too happy with Blake's tone, but she did have to admit she had a point. She quickly stashed her blade back in its scabbard.

"So, why did you let those two off so easily? When your battalion attacked Fort Luna I don't remember you being so merciful."

"That was different. In that battle, I was fighting for my life."

"What about after the battle when you and Coco slaughtered all those soldiers after they had already surrendered!" Blake exclaimed standing up and getting right up into Weiss's face. Despite having had this conversation with Coco earlier, it still was a fresh wound and seeing Weiss let the attackers go really pressed on it.

Weiss pulled back and looked away from Blake. This was one of the many things that she regretted doing since she joined the military, "We were under orders… I-I didn't want to do it…"

Blake looked at Weiss trying to see how genuine her guilt was, and after a couple seconds, she believed her. Of course, that didn't make it all better, but it at least meant that she wasn't as cold-hearted as she seemed.

"Those two girls, they were so young… They weren't soldiers either, they were forced into this… And that red one, she was using a farm tool as a weapon and the way she swung it… it was like a farmer harvesting their crops…" Weiss explained.

"I would've done the same thing," Blake admitted. After a short period of silence between the two of them, Blake changed the subject, "So, if this Neo girl really is trying to kill you, do you really think the two of us will be able to fight her?"

"Honestly, no," Weiss answered.

"Then why did we head all the way out here?"

"Because we'll have a better chance fighting her now than having her ambush us again," Weiss explained.

"A better chance? Didn't you say we wouldn't be able to beat her?"

"Well, yes, but we'd last longer. Do you have any other ideas?"

"I know you don't trust me and Velvet, but we were skilled soldiers at Fort Luna, so if you, Coco, Velvet and I fight together we might be able to beat her."

Weiss pushed Blake back and drew her blade again, "Damn you! I let my guard down for a moment, and you immediately tried to talk me into letting you go!"

Blake held her ground and looked Weiss in the eye, "What the hell is wrong with you? After all this how can you still not show me any faith?"

"Are you joking? You are the enemy!" Weiss replied without moving her sword.

"I saved your damn life yesterday! And I have been spending today helping you!"

Instead of continuing this conversation with Blake, Weiss turned around and started walking, "We're going back to Coco's tent.

As Weiss walked away Blake seriously debated grabbing Yang's zweihänder and attacking her, but she knew exactly how that would turn out. So instead she just quietly followed her.


	6. Poking the Fox

_Okay, I got a couple things I want to say before the chapter starts (If you don't wanna hear it, the story starts right after this chunk of italics). First, I'm terribly sorry about how long this chapter took to write, I said I would get it done faster, but I had problems with getting the time and the drive to write it. Plus the longer a story goes it can be harder to keep it going, the steam kinda burns out, though that doesn't mean I plan on giving up on this story. I have every intention of making sure this thing gets finishes especially since it's been actually getting a good amount of views. Second I wanna say sorry about the chapter being so short, it's a little shorter than what I normally aim for._

 _Thank you all very much for your views, but I'd really appreciate it if you would review or favourite this story. Whenever I get an email saying someone followed my story or put up a review it really helps me gather the motivation to write._

 _Anyways that's my two bits, now back to the story._

As the two of them approached the tent, they could hear arguing, "I call shenanigans! You've got to be cheating somehow!"

"Are you accusing a blind man of being a cheater?" Fox replied pretending to be offended.

Weiss burst into the tent, not happy to hear Fox was playing cards with someone he was supposed to be guarding, "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're supposed to be her guard, not her friend!"

"Weiss, do you know how boring it is sitting in a tent in silence? I'm a civilian, who quite frankly hasn't been relieved of their shift despite it supposed to have ended hours ago, so let me play some cards," Fox replied.

"Are you talking back to a knight?" Weiss asked sternly.

Fox put his cards down and turned to face Weiss, "I'm not **your** soldier, **you** can't order me around. The only reason I'm watching these prisoners is that Coco asked me to. Asked, not ordered." He said emphasizing his words with hand gestures.

Weiss looked a little angrier, it seemed she wasn't winning any verbal battles today, and she was getting sick of getting lip. "Fine." She told him, through gritted teeth, "Where is Coco?"

"She left a while ago."

"To where?"

"I don't know, I was too busy doing your job to listen."

Weiss stepped forward and grabbed Fox by his shirt, "That. Is. Enough."

"What're you gonna do? Attack a blind, unarmed civilian?"

Weiss set him down and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down a bit, "Fox, I just want to know where she went."

"Fine. Coco went to the dining tent to grab some food for Velvet and me."

"Thank you… And sorry." Weiss said as she walked away to warn Coco about what they were up against.

"So, was she that bitchy to you when you two were looking for her attacker?" Fox asked seconds after she left.

"Are you sure you should be talking about her that way?" Blake asked purposely not answering his question.

"I don't care if she's a knight, she doesn't get to push me around like that. I hate the kind of people that think they're better than everyone else."

"If Weiss is that bad how is she friends with Coco?"

"Well, I don't really deal with her much, but if she actually was that bad I don't think Coco would put up with her," Fox explained, "Anyways, want me to deal you in? We're playing five card. Well. I'm playing, Velvet is just losing."

"It's not like I'm not trying!" Velvet complained.

"Oh, you're trying? That makes this so much sadder." Fox teased.

"What're you betting with?" Blake interrupted.

"Favours." Fox joked with a smirk.

"That's not true!" Velvet exclaimed blushing a little bit, "We're betting with food."

"Food? Are you sure that's the best idea?" Blake asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to starve her, we're just betting with the tasty parts," Fox explained.

"I think I'll just keep my food," Blake said before taking a seat and watched.

Meanwhile, Weiss finally caught up with Coco in the dining tent.

"So, are you aware that your prisoners are currently playing cards with their guard?" She asked immediately.

Coco spun around to look at her, "So, how did the hunt go?" She asked.

"I'll tell you after you answer my question," Weiss said putting emphasis on the word after.

"I mean yes and no." Coco said with a shrug, "I mean I assumed Fox would break out his cards eventually, but I didn't know he had done it already."

"And you're okay with that!?" Weiss exclaimed outraged.

"Of course I am. This is Fox we're talking about, not to mention Velvet and Blake have been nothing but cooperative." She reasoned confused as to how Weiss still didn't trust Blake.

"I don't care how cooperative they're being! They're prisoners how can you trust them!?" At this point Weiss was practically screaming, she could not believe that Coco wasn't on her side on this. Weiss knew that prisoners cannot be trusted no matter the situation, and she had thought Coco knew that truth as well.

Coco sighed, "Weiss. It doesn't matter how much you trust them, **I** trust them. And they're my prisoners."

"Are you really going to side with them, two people that killed your allies, rather than me, your trusted ally?"

"That's not what's happening here, Weiss." Coco said her voice very clearly showing the fact that she was tired of Weiss's antics, "You're just being stupid. Now can you move on and tell me how the search went?"

"I am **not** being stupid. But, it looks like you're too stupid to listen, so we can move on." Weiss told her with the same level of anger one would give to a parent who is simply too stubborn to even try to see something your way. "The search was successful, but it turns out it was Neo."

"That can't be right. If it was Neo she would've just outright killed you instead of running away." Coco stated.

"That's what I thought too, but once I got thinking I realized it made sense if she were trying to make nobody saw her doing it." Weiss explained.

"Wait, then that would mean that… Shit Cinder wants us dead then. But if we're her allies Salem wouldn't let her kill us, so now that it's obvious that we have two prisoners in my tent she can kill us and blame it on them…" Coco pieced together mostly talking to herself.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Problem is you and I cannot take Neo in a fair fight."

"But you remember seeing Velvet and Blake during the assault on Fort Luna, they kicked some serious ass."

"I can't deny that they're capable in battle, but are you really comfortable giving them weapons?"

"Weiss we're not getting into this argument again. Just think of it this way, without them we're going to die for sure, with them we have a chance of surviving."

"There's a third option though, we could kill them and suddenly Cinder doesn't have the opportunity to kill us." Weiss reasoned.

"Weiss." Coco started looking her dead in the eye, "I will **not** murder them. Not only have I promised them my protection, they are kind, noble soldiers and they deserve to die a much more dignified death than being slaughtered like lambs."

Weiss very quickly broke eye contact, ashamed she had even suggested that plan, "I'm sorry I even thought that was an appropriate solution…"

"It's fine. But you should learn to put a little bit of faith in Blake and Velvet. If you don't I doubt we'll be able to take on Neo." Coco told her.


End file.
